Paul Halperin was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Growing up in
south central Texas in the 1950's, he began hearing Jimmy Reed on the
AM radio, and he often heard blues performers at San Antonio's
legendary Eastwood Country Club. Living in Austin in the mid-60's, he
saw Muddy Waters at one of the city's first live music clubs. To this
day, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, and the South Texas Shuffle style are
the foundations of Halperin's music

Halperin has often said, "Blues is all I ever wanted to play." His
first blues band, The Blues Kings, was formed in Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1971, and it became the first in a series of bands that he has
fronted as lead singer and rhythm guitarist. The following year, The
Blues Kings changed its name to Terraplane. When the band members
decided to have nicknames, Halperin, because of his Texas roots and
reddish hair, adopted the name Paul "Texas Red" Hart. Since that time
he's been known as "Tex," or "Red."

In Louisville in 1973, Tex put together a five-piece blues band with
two guitars, harmonica, bass, and drums, debuting under the name Texas
Red and the Hartbreakers. After instant regional success in 1974, and a
thwarted attempt to move the band to Austin, Texas, members went their
separate ways. The outgrowth of Texas Red and the Hartbreakers was a
string of highly successful bands that significantly affected the
Louisville music scene. For the next several years, Tex traveled and
played as a solo in Arizona and Texas.

Early in his career Red began incorporating humorous stories, ad-libs,
and dialogue with his audience into the space between songs. Describing
Tex' performance, a longtime cohort said, "...he kind of eggs on the
audience to new heights of rowdiness. He takes that awkward space
between songs and uses it to his advantage. He's a blues comedian of
sorts." In 1984 in Phoenix, Arizona, Tex re-created Texas Red and the
Hartbreakers as an electrifying five-piece unit that turned the Phoenix
blues scene upside down. When Red ended the band in Phoenix in 1987,
Texas Red and the Hartbreakers had won Best Blues Band awards and a
reputation as the tightest, funniest, most exciting and hardest-hitting
blues band in town. Texas Red has had a lasting impact, returning
periodically in the '90's to play to sold out houses at Phoenix'
showcase blues club, The Rhythm Room.

Robert Cray, globe-trotting in the mid-80's, took notice of Tex and his
notorious Hartbreakers and invited them to open for his band on a dozen
dates around the U.S. In the fall of 1985, Charlie Musselwhite chose
Texas Red and the Hartbreakers as his backup band for shows around the
Southwest.

On several occasions in recent years, Lyle Lovett has surprised Tex by
asking him to come up on stage in the middle of his concerts. Lovett
has handed over his guitar and left the stage, leaving Red to play the
blues for Lovett's audience.

Tex has always loved straight-up Chicago blues with a Texas twist. His
songwriting is comical and mischievous, which speaks volumes of his
wildly adventurous life experiences. On stage he encourages a spirit of
blues abandon, always bringing out the best solo performances from his
band members.

In 1997, Texas Red is having a natural ball performing at age 50. With
his long red hair and Fender Esquire guitar, he walks up to the
microphone and proudly proclaims to his audience, "It ain't gonna be
nothin' but the straight and natural blues."